The Swan Princess Prologue
by Pandaluver11
Summary: Odette and Derek, now teenagers, are starting to feel something different from the "I want to kill you" feeling they had before. What can happen in one Summer? The story starts in the 3rd stage of the song "This is my idea" from the movie.
1. Chapter 1

From the first day Princess Odette came that first summer, she and Prince Derek had been fighting over, and over again every summer. When they were young adults Derek went everywhere with his best friend, Bromley, and together they were the perfect "mean team" to Odette.

Now, Odette was 15 and she was getting ready to leave her home for the summer.

She braided her hair nicely and put on a lavender dress that had a blue waist-line, and some violet on the sleeve parts. She put her favorite violet shoes on her feet, and a golden locket in the shape of a heart around her neck.

"Dear, are you ready?" called her father from outside the room, "We must be off!"

"Yes, Father, I'm coming." she called back. She gave one last look at her room and shut the door as she left her room. She wouldn't see it again for four months.

It was a long trip. Days passed, and they finally saw the castle in sight. When they arrived Odette saw Derek sitting in a tree.

"I'm sure he's been _plotting_..." She thought, narrowing her eyes at him, but relaxed them once again as she looked away to the beauty of the kingdom's garden. That's the only thing she looked forward to seeing every summer. The flowers and trees were well kept and beautiful in that time of year.

The ride was over and had stopped. Queen Uberta approached the carriage and greeted the king and his princess. "Welcome to our kingdom, King William, and _dear_, Princess Odette." She said with her usual smile.

"Thank you, Queen Uberta! You are most lovely this day!" complemented the King. The queen giggled like a queen her age would and thanked him for saying that. "And how is Prince Derek today?" he asked. Uberta twitched her eye and with a sigh she looked up in the tree. "Oh... He's been up there all day, and I can't seem to get him down..." the queen said with a dramatic sigh.

"I wonder if they are getting tired of this yet?" wondered the two kids, not knowing they thought alike.

"Derek! If you don't come down this second I'll... I'll..." The Queen was at a loss for she couldn't think of anything to threaten him with.

"You _could_ call the lumberjacks, but that's just my opinion." suggested Odette.

"Aha! Yes! I will call the lumberjacks if you don't come down this second." The queen announced, feeling proud of herself for _coming up with the idea herself._

Derek mumbled some cursing as he climbed down the tree. Once he was on the ground he glared at Odette who was grinning at him for being intimidated by such a small threat. She turned her focus to a pathway that led into a deeper park of the garden, and thought to herself "That looks like a nice place for some alone time."

The king and queen dragged Derek back into the castle, assuming Odette would follow. They forgot that Odette didn't want anything to do with Derek either, and so she went the other way to take a walk in the royal garden.

"There!" the king and queen finally said, taking the time to breath. They dragged Derek all the way to his bedroom. "Now, Derek, I want you to spend more time with the princess this summer, and less time with Bromley." said the queen. "_WHAT_? Why, Mom?" Derek protested. "Have you forgotten about that time you destroyed the tree house with him? That's why!" she explained, trying to stay calm. "For the last time; it was _her_ fault!" the prince argued. He wouldn't say her name anymore, which disheartened the king and queen.

"Ahem," the king stepped in, "this might not be the best time to say this, but... I don't see Odette anywhere..." The queen froze for a second, in both movement and expression, and then looked around frantically. She sent everyone, even Derek, out to look for the princess. Derek could care less so he left to take a walk deep in his backyard, the garden. Which happend to be where she was that very moment!

Odette was sitting on a bench deep in the garden. She enjoyed the peace and quiet. She had almost wished she had grown up here and not where she had, but the downside seemed to be the queen. She felt bad that Derek had such a mother.

She sighed and shook her head. "I wish all of this nonsense could just end."

"Me too." replied a voice. Odette looked to her left and saw Derek standing close by.

Derek had found her a few seconds before but said nothing until now. He didn't like to talk to her, and she knew it, so she wondered why he was this time, and why was he there?

"Everyone is looking for you." Derek said. Odette sighed and stood up. "I just wanted some time alone." she said with a small tone of anger as she started to walk back. Derek followed her, but he had an idea.

"You know," he began, Odette turned her head slightly toward him, "This far from the castle is where _thiefs_ and _evil men _are rumored to be watching, and waiting for young girls to be walking by so they can JUMP OUT!-" he paused for effect. He saw Odette shudder so he got closer. "Grab them, and take them away," he continued with a grin, he grabbed her hand and turned her around so he could get a better reaction. "And you know what they do to them next?" he asked. Odette swallowed nervously, her eyes were wide with fear and she was shaking.

They had stopped walking for the moment and the wind blew gently by them. The sound of the wind blowing through the trees, and birds singing from aways off was heard.

Derek and Odette's eyes were locked. Odette felt her heart going faster and faster. Derek, his eyes narrow and a grin still on his face, leaned close to her left ear and whispered "They sell them to perverted men."

"AH!" She screamed and pulled free of Derek's grip. She was breathing fast and had an expression that was a mix of anger and fear. Derek just laughed and walked on ahead.

Odette caught her breath, finally after some time had gone by, and looked at the path back to the castle. She could see Derek from far off, he was still walking back.

The wind picked up and made noise everywhere. The sun was almost set and it was getting dark. Her brain began playing tricks and she kept thinking she heard footsteps and quiet chuckling and plotting. She kept telling herself that Derek was just making it up, but it didn't help. She started seeing shadows of big, strong, men. "_The thiefs!_" she thought and screamed again.

She ran up the path that led back to the castle, not taking the time to catch her breath again. Her eyes shut for fear of seeing something scary again, but that didn't help, and tears racing down her cheeks.

The next moment she realized she had run into Derek, who had turned around. Her head was spinning and she was full of fear. She was also shaking and had turned a little pale.

"Hey! What's wrong with you?" Asked Derek, confused, and looking only slightly down at the sobbing girl who was now clinging to him. He never noticed he was only but a little bit taller than her.

Odette opened her eyes and looked up at Derek. They were face to face, eye to eye, nose to nose, and their lips were almost touching too.

Seeing this, her face was turning it's normal color again, but then was almost pink. She quickly let go of him and backed up by a few steps. "S-sorry..." she said and started to sniff and wipe her eyes. "What's wrong?" Derek asked, but before he could get an answer the wind had started blowing again. Odette looked up and saw the tree's branches, but they looked like giant, thin fingers reaching down at her. She could almost see faces behind them, but that was her imagination. Not realizing it, though, she screamed again and clung to Derek, again.

"Hey! Quit it! What's the matter with you? ...Besides the usual stuff..." he asked, muttering the last part.

Odette was crying again, not saying a word, so Derek looked around and tried to figure it out on his own. Suddenly, it came to him. "Hey, this isn't about what I told you earlier... is it?" he asked. Odette nodded and said in a almost a whisper "I want to go home."

Derek sighed and led her back to the castle. Once the king and queen were insight Odette ran to her father and hugged him tightly as he took her inside.

The queen looked at Derek. "You didn't make up some stupid story to scare her again, did you?" she asked. Derek shrugged and said "I might have..."

* * *

The next morning it was bright and warm with a nice cool breeze.

Odette had been glaring at Derek all that morning. Her father had a long talk with her last night, making sure she knew that all Derek had said was just to scare her. Now she was deeply annoyed with him. Derek wasn't very happy with her either for getting him in trouble and making such a fuss about a little rumor.

That day Odette was wearing a lovely, short sleeved, white laced, pink dress. One look at her and Derek forgot why he was mad at her... for a moment. Once she saw him she gave him and angry glare and he returned it. Odette walked away and after a little while she found a guard to talk to. Derek rolled his eyes with a bit of jealousy. She had spent most of her time in the garden or with the castle guards last year as well.

The king and queen told Derek they would be gone the rest of the day, until late the next night night, and to TRY to make Odette happier. Derek argued saying that she seemed happy enough talking to the castle guards, but they just told him "Happier with YOU, silly boy," and left.

Derek remembered that tonight wouldn't have the moon to light the sky so it would be dark. He had the perfect idea!

That night, after dinner, Derek found Odette reading a book in the guest bed room. He walked in and looked around. She seemed to have been sitting there for a few hours before and the curtains were closed. So far, his plan was working. "Hey, I want to show you something outside!" he announced. She looked up at him angrily and said harshly "Let me guess, another one of you're sneaky ideas to get me to listen to your wild stories?"

"No! C'mon! If you come with me I'll show you! I think you'll like it." he said, trying to get her to come. But she just said "No," pulled the book up to her face, and went back to reading.

Derek, losing his patients, pushed the book down on her lap and said, right in her face, "Listen to me! I'm sorry for making you scared yesterday, OK? PLEASE come with me, Odette?"

Odette was very suprised by what he said. He said her name, "sorry," and "please!" She put the book down and stood up. "Well, let's go than."

Derek grinned, took her hand, and led her outside up to a small, clear hill. It had a few flowers on it, but other than that it was just grass. Derek let go of Odette's hand, and sat down, as did she. "So... why are we here?" she asked.

"Look up," he replied. And so she did. She gasped at the sight above her. Because it was so dark out and cloudless you could see the stars as clearly as you would see the sun in the daytime. It was so beautiful that words can't describe it all! There were so many, and it looked like they just went on and on.

Also, that night, there were a few shooting stars.

After a few minutes of silence Odette looked at Derek a smiled warmly. Then she wrapped her arms around him and gave him a hug. "I love it. Thank you." she said gently. Derek felt his heart racing during that one moment. He had never felt like that before, and wondered why it was happening. A thought of why had crossed his mind, but he simply thought in reply to it "There's no way I could ever be in love with her."

* * *

"Derek! Derek! Wake up!" shouted his mother's voice.

"Mm... huh? Oh... Mom. You're home?" asked Derek, in a daze.

"What? I live here, don't I?" asked the queen.

"Uhh... you said you and the king were going somewhere yesterday..." replied Derek, now sitting up.

"I never said that! You must've dreamed it." said Uberta, poking Derek's forehead.

Derek's eyes widend. "It was a _dream_? _All _of it?" he asked himself out loud. He hit his forehead over and over again.

Uberta sighed. "Will you please stop making such a fuss? I know you love your dreams, since you claim to slay dragons and wild things like that all the time, but would you keep your voice down? The princess is in the room next door."

"Mom, this one was different. Since when were YOU ever in my dreams?" Derek asked, crossing his arms and mumbling something along the lines of "and I HAVE slayed a dragon..."

"Since now, I suppose. Anyways, please get up. The princess is going for a morning walk soon and I want you to accompany her." said the Queen, walking out of the room.

"Why should I? We'd just kill eachother before we get half way." Derek said to himself, almost saddly, as he lay back down. It was a dream? Why would his mom, or Odette, be in _his_ dreams?

About a minute after he spoke he heard someone yell "GOTCHA!" and before he knew it, he was tackled, and pinned against his bed frame.

Derek's exprestion was of shock and fear. His eyes were wide awake, as was his heart. It started pounding, but went even faster once he saw who it was.

Yes, it was Odette. The front of her blond hair covered some of her face, making her look like a blond demon. She had her eyes narrowed and a grin across her face.

"O-odette?" Derek finally spoke.

"Yeah?" she replied casually.

"Uhh... what was _that_ for?" he asked, angered.

"I was just getting some revenge for scarring me yesterday." Odette explained with the same sly expression from before.

"You think I was _scared_ just now? HAH! You have a _long_ way to go." Derek said proudly.

"Well, I guess I have _something_ to do this summer." Odette taunted. She let go of Derek, left the bed as well as the room, and back to her own room.

Once the princess was out of sight Derek gripped his chest. It was still pounding rapidly. "_Why_?" he asked himself in thought.

Rushing out of the bed he grabbed some clothes from his dresser, and ran into a private room and changed.

"I'll get her... one day..." he said to himself.

Derek and Odette were in for a _long_ summer.

* * *

Hello! :3 I've only seen the beginning of _The Swan Princess_ (I own _**NOTHING**_ by the way) but I LOVED it! ;)

I hope at least a few people like this. If I get an idea I will add more!

From what I saw (and what I've read) I think it's a great movie! My favorite part is the "This is my idea" scene! Mostly the 2nd to last stage of the song. Odette is SO pretty!~ :D And so I wanted to make a story about what I think could've happend durring that time. I mean, C'MON! Derek was totally getting jealous when he saw her flirting with that castle guard! ;P

Anyways, I hope you liked this! :)

Hugs and cake,

_~Panda-chiii_


	2. Chapter 2

_Braids aren't cute, and neither is purple. If she thinks it is, it isn't. And the way she sits when she reads books isn't cute either, nor are her fierce blue eyes. No part of her is cute, and that's that._

It was just going to be one of those days where Derek had to convince himself that Odette was not cute, pretty, beautiful, or any word that meant attractive.

It wasn't hard to think or say, but he was beginning to think that he wasn't believing it anymore ever since he discovered that he had a serious problem: He couldn't bring himself to stop starring at her.

She was just reading a book for goodness sake, why was it so hard to just look somewhere else? He couldn't figure it out. And it was about to get him in deep trouble. He knew it. As soon as she noticed him starring she was bound to question why, and when he had no answer she would have freedom to think of a nasty reason herself.

It was just as Derek thought these things that the princess he had his eye on looked up from her book and noticed him starring. That, or she was just going to look at him and happened to catch him already looking, but the prince ruled that possibility out quickly.

"What?" she asked, giving him a suspicious look.

"What?" he asked in return. Odette sighed impatiently before being more to the point.

"Why are you looking at me?" she inquired more specifically.

"Why are _you_ looking at _me_?" he replied snarkily.

"Stop repeating what I say!" she demanded with annoyance.

"I'm not!" he argued angrily.

"Yes you are! ...Were." she said, finishing much more quietly than she had begun.

There was silence as they glared at each other, but the princess broke it once more.

"Now answer my question: Why are you starring at me?" she asked, sounding more annoyed than the first time she had asked. Derek quickly tried to think of a good excuse.

"Uh... You..." he began awkwardly, and paused for a moment before finishing, "You sit in a strange way."

Odette blinked, then noticed how improperly she was sitting. She was leaning her back against the left armrest, and her legs were draped over the other. Even Derek knew that wasn't very ladylike. After quickly readjusting her position in the chair, much to Derek's amusement as he watched, she went back to glaring at him.

"Why do _you_ care about the way I sit?" she asked with mild curiosity.

"I don't, I just thought you would. Is it a bad habit of yours?" he replied while wondering why he was continuing the conversation. He was pretty sure it was because he was still trying to stop starring at her, but that wasn't working yet. And if he stopped talking to her now she would probably catch on that he wasn't just observing the way she was sitting.

"Kind of..." she answered him a bit awkwardly before adding, "And you seem to have a bad habit of starring at people."

_Bad habit? Hadn't thought of it like that before... Well I might as well go with it since I can't seem to figure out the reason myself._

"I guess it might be, but I'd like to think of it as more like observing than starring." he replied, and felt like hitting himself on the head as his mind began to wonder if she had natural waves in her hair or not. It was rather puzzling to him, but he didn't dare to ask.

"So you're _observing_ me?" she questioned, now smirking with amusement.

"Whatever you're thinking I meant it's wrong." he said in a grouchy tone. She then started flipping through pages of the book she had left idle in her lap, and broke their stare-off in the process.

"Observe: to notice or perceive something, and register it as being significant." she read aloud, then looked back at Derek as she finished. And he would've been terribly embarrassed had he not realized something in that moment.

Upon his realization, the prince broke into a loud laughter and confused the princess as he did so.

"I'm pretty sure I'm the one that should be laughing right now..." she said with no clue of what he thought was so funny. Luckily his laughing soon subsided, and as he tried to regain his composure he asked her a question.

"You're reading a _dictionary?_"

"Yes, I am." Odette confirmed, giving Derek a suspicious look as he was chuckling once again, and it was then that she realized his reason for being so amused with her.

"And what's so funny about _that_?" she asked angrily and glared at him.

"No reason, it just is." he stated, grinning with amusement. Odette sighed and shook her head as she went back to reading.

"Just please stop starring at me."

"Why?"

That earned him an odd look from the blond girl a few feet away from him.

"Because... it makes me uncomfortable." she explained, and only felt more uneasy when he started to smirk.

"But I love to make you uncomfortable."

What Derek always found interesting about her was that, despite her discomfort, she never looked away from his eyes out of awkwardness. She stood her ground in their stare-offs unless it was completely necessary to look elsewhere. He found that interesting about her because most girls would feel awkward and look away.

"Now you're just being a pest."

_The way she glares is kind of cute_, he admitted inwardly, _and the way her voice sounds when she's angry is a whole lot better than that sugary high voice she always uses when talking with people that aren't me. It's a voice that can be taken more seriously, that's for sure._

"I'm _always_ a pest to you."

It was true, but he liked to think he had his moments where he wasn't a pest, and was just as good as she was at being polite and nice.

"You know you could just leave and bother me later."

Trying to get him to leave only made him want to stay longer. Staying longer meant he got to think longer about whether those waves in her hair were natural or not, or if she would ever stop putting her hair in a braid, and maybe he could touch upon the subject of anymore bad habits she might have that he could tease her about.

Derek chuckled mischievously, "Now where would the fun be in that?"

And with that said the princess sighed with obvious frustration, broke their eye contact once more, and directed her attention back to the book she held. She was ignoring him now, or at least going to put up a good effort in trying to, and that left Derek to continue with his odd ways of bothering her.

Odette was defiantly interesting to Derek, and no other word seemed to fit her so perfectly at the moment. She aroused curiosity out of him, and always managed to catch his attention and keep it for the most ridiculous amounts of time. Even when she was doing outright _nothing_.

It was confusing for sure, but he knew that with time he would understand why she was so fascinating, so captivating, and so interesting.

* * *

**So I got some new ideas(finally), and this is one of them! They are just too much fun to write about so you can expect more to be added in the future. ****Thanks for reading! :)**

**Hugs and cake,**

_**~Panda-chiiii**_


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